I have 2 firestudio projects...is there a way to use them along with my laptop in place of an actual mixer for a PA system? Would I get PA speakers and a power amp and plug that into the main outs of the interface? or something among those lines? is it possible?

You can do this using Firecontrol. I have a MOTU and have tried the same but prefer to use a real mixer since for small venues its necessary to ride the faders to get the feedback under control - this might not be a problem with folk or theatre productions but for rock and metal its quite impractical.

that would be the idea, main outputs to a power amp and speakers (or just powered speakers). i ran live sound for a band who did it, and it worked fine (though the unit may have actually been more meant for live use, i cant remember what it was).

the biggest issue i had was trying to work all of the digital faders to keep volumes level. not a huge issue when mixing a recording, but trying to use a mouse (or god forbid, trackpad) in real time with a bunch of channels was not idea.

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